Swap Blocks

Posted on by Tisha

Indianapolis Modern Quilt Guild has been hosting a block swap for the last year or so.  I have really enjoyed the challenge of doing blocks for someone else.  I must admit not every month was my favorite and I struggled, but overall it has been a good creative outlet for me.  Thank you to me fellow swappers for pushing me out of my comfort zone.

My blocks are up for June.  Meg totally stole my idea for May, so time to look for something new.  I have a block idea but need to decide if I should utilize my FAVORITE fabric in my stash, Timeless Treasures Botanica.  Or should I do something else.  I have some extra fabric that I think would go really well.  Anyone up for all solids???

Here are some of the blocks I’ve done over the last few months.

Modern Mosaic
February blocks

The block above was super easy.  I should try this with some of the fabrics sitting in my stash.

Wonky Log Cabin

Darn you Meg for taking my idea.  No worries though.  Love this block and actually made mine bigger than you asked for.  I really got into the creating, sewing, etc part and just forgot to check the size.

Purple Stone Walk-up

Really struggled with this one.  Had to create without a real pattern.  EEEK!!  Why do you think the block is so tall?

strips!

Loved the colors combination for this block.

Can’t wait to see what people create for me.

 

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Mug Rug

Posted on by Tisha

Well I finally made one.  I had some leftovers from my new potholder design.  I grabbed some backing fabric and went to work quilting.

quilted

The quilting only took an hour or so.  I tried to make it very close together, something I rarely do.  As I was quilting I had a recipient in mind.

bound
back side

When we all met for dinner one Sunday I brought it along as a belated birthday present too.  Very happy with the results and the feedback.  I will try one of these again.

 

Excited to use with her tea.

 

 

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Frugal & Fancy

Posted on by Tisha

The Indianapolis Modern Quilt Guild met late last month at the Indiana State Museum to see the Frugal & Fancy quilt exhibit.  Exciting to see what previous Indiana quilters did many years ago.  Little did we know that a Yo-Yo contest was going to be taking place.  Not fabric yo-yos that sewists create, but real Yo-Yos.  Did you know they had competitions?  We were shocked.  Here is some of the action from the day.

in action!
lots of colors for just string.

Rachael was tempted to buy the string to see what she could create.

Off to the exhibit we went.  The best part of the exhibit was that they were not perfect.  Triangles were not lined up and corners were off.  It was refreshing to see quilts from 100 years ago that could still be considered modern.  Solids and wonky log cabins were pointed out by all of us.

log cabin
solids. this was one of my favs!
just impressive work.
pinwheels

This was a great exhibit.  We had a really nice time having lunch after out on the deck.  We were watching people run on the canal, saw a quinceanera, and don’t forget the Yo-Yos.

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Thanks Mom

Posted on by Tisha

Mom is a word that is not yet apart of my personal description.  I do have a wonderful mother that has been a great mentor for me.  Plus many friends that have shown me how to be a great mom with the next generation.

A few months ago I was asked to make three special Mother’s Day quilts for a friend.  Her mom passed almost six years ago and she wanted to do something to celebrate her mother.  Her sisters had created a quilt block a few years ago that is on a traveling quilt currently.  This was my inspiration.

Into my fabric stash I went.  Amazingly, I had enough fabric to create three quilt tops except for the backs and sashing.  I have wonderful sewists in the Indianapolis Modern Quilt Guild that offered to help me with the embroidery that I had envisioned for the quilt. Here is what I started with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The design/layout of the quilt was changed a couple of times.  I had one block in mind and started cutting squares per the instructions and it was becoming difficult to match up three fabrics for each block that would be different.  So instead I changed to a block that showcases just two fabrics.

Upon delivery of the first quilt I learned the story of how the quilts came to be from my friend.  She mentioned her sisters have had a really hard time since their mother has passed.  She has a hard time but has tried to make Mother’s Day something positive, by volunteering, donations, and/or something else that didn’t let her dwell that she was missing her mom.  I am blessed to still have my 97 year old grandma and my ** year old mom, I don’t know what I would do without them.  She wanted the quilts so her sisters could have the blocks to remember their mom.  I was very pleased to help her bring this to life.

Her sister’s quilt were made the exact same way with the green sashing.  For hers I wanted it to be different especially after why she told me she wanted the quilts.  I added in the cream sashing and and extra worry spot to the back.  I think I may start adding these tags onto the back of quilts that I’m working on.  Something fun and different.

quilt #3 on the design wall

 

pinned and ready for the machine.

The quilts were a big hit.  So glad I could help someone have positive memories for Mother’s Day.

 

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Vintage Modern Monday – Bed Sheets

Posted on by Tisha

Who knew my favorite yellow flower sheets as a little girl would turn into a huge trend when I was “older.”  Seriously, I would have held on to them.  Vintage bed sheets have become a new genre in quilting.  I know that I’m behind on this trend, but I’m really loving the girly prints and re-using things.  They can be so shabby chic.

Indy Modern is holding a vintage bed sheet fat quarter shop in May.  I’m in.  Found my sheet this weekend at Goodwill.  I don’t want to cut into it, but it will go great in someone’s collection.

Here are some great finds on Etsy.com

Whimsie Dots has a variety of vintage offerings that I am enjoying. Here is another shop that specializes in reclaimed bed sheets, cindi0.

 

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Vintage Modern Monday – Gee’s Bend

Posted on by Tisha

Last week I talked about the history of quilting.  As I was writing I kept going back to Gee’s Bend how the women create so freely and it turns out wonderful.  These women deserve their own post because I think they were “Modern”.  They created without real patterns and made their own style.

Here is a story that NPR did a few years ago about these inspirational women, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=970364.

Looking for more information on the quilts, architecture, etc.

Here are some modern Gee’s Bend inspired quilts.

 

 

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